Edoardo De Angelis’ Comandante is the new Venice Film Festival opening selection on August 30 after MGM pulled Challengers starring Zendaya amid concerns over the ongoing Hollywood strikes.
SAG-AFTRA strike rules prohibit talent from promoting films by struck companies during industrial action. Without Zendaya on a red carpet and talking to press the studio felt the film would be better served by launching later and has pulled it from 2023 entirely.
Luca Guadagnino’s R-rated tennis romance had been set to open on September 15 after its Venice premiere and will now open on April 26 2024.
While sources said other US productions could also get pulled from Venice the case of Challengers is a special one. MGM is targeting the 18-34 demographic and Zendaya’s participation in promotion is crucial to the release. The star enjoys a social media following of more than 200m. Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist also star.
Potential Venice US selections previously tipped by Screen include Bradley Cooper’s Maestro at Netflix, Michael Mann’s Ferrari at Neon, and Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things with Searchlight Pictures.
The full impact on the fall festival season remains to be seen. Yesterday TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey sounded positive when he spoke to Screen about his upcoming edition in September and said he was in conversations “film by film, person by person” as the industry navigates the strike fallout.
Pierfrancesco Favino stars in Comandante as the captain of an Italian submarine in the Second World War who sinks an armed merchant ship but saves the lives of 26 Belgians on board. The Naval vessel must navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to enemy forces, as it carries the passengers to safety. 01 Distribution will release in Italy.
“In the frame of period films, on which Italian cinema has invested considerable production resources, Edoardo De Angelis’ movie reverberates with unambiguously contemporary echoes,” said festival Venice head Alberto Barbera.
“The true story of Commander Salvatore Todaro, who saved the lives of enemy sailors who had survived the sinking of their merchant ship – endangering the safety of his own submarine and his men – is a powerful call for the need to place the values of ethics and human solidarity before the brutal logic of military protocol. I thank the author, the producers Nicola Giuliano and Pier Paolo Verga, and Paolo Del Brocco with Rai Cinema for having accepted our invitation to inaugurate the 80th Film Festival of the Biennale di Venezia.”
Earlier in the summer Disney announced a major release calendar change in anticipated of strike disruption to production and distribution. Yesterday Lionsgate said it was pushing back White Bird and its Dirty Dancing sequel.
Venice runs August 30-September 9 and will announce its selection on July 25.
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